JP4825996B2 - Electric vehicle shared use system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a shared use system for electric vehicles.
[Technical background]
In general, pure electric vehicles that are considered to be environmentally friendly and emit no nitrogen oxides or carbon dioxide, and hybrid electric vehicles that emit less than conventional gasoline vehicles are known. The spread of such electric vehicles is considered to be an important issue as part of environmental measures.
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
An object of the present invention is to construct a shared use system that can easily use electric vehicles in order to popularize electric vehicles.
[0002]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electric vehicle joint use system for jointly using a plurality of electric vehicles, the charging post for charging the electric vehicle while parked, and the charging post. And a management server for managing the electric vehicle, wherein the management server detects a connection relationship for charging between the electric vehicle and the charging post, and starts using the electric vehicle. The time and end of use can be determined by detecting the end and start of the connection relationship.
At this time, the charging post may have a lock mechanism for maintaining the connection relationship, and the lock mechanism is in a locked start / unlocked state according to an instruction from the management server. Moreover, the said charge post | mailbox has the indicator lamp which displays a usable state, and can also be displayed by the instruction | indication from the said management server.
The management server further collects data on the status and position of the electric vehicle connected to the charging post, authenticates that it is a member by accessing from the user's mobile phone, and is a member If it is authenticated, the reservation of the electric vehicle from the user is accepted, whether the reservation is established is searched from the collected electric vehicle data, and the result is transmitted to the mobile phone. Good.
The result transmitted when the management server makes a reservation to the mobile phone may include a map indicating a position where an electric vehicle that can be used by the user is parked.
The result transmitted by the management server when the reservation is established for the mobile phone may include a map indicating the position of the reserved charging post closest to the user's destination.
The management server may use the telephone number of the mobile phone being used when authenticating the membership.
The management server may monitor the usage time of the electric vehicle used by the user, calculate the usage fee, and add the calculated usage fee to the mobile phone fee account used by the user.
In addition, when the electric vehicle used by the user is determined, the management server may notify the electric vehicle used by the user of the telephone number of the user's mobile phone.
[0003]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration in the electric vehicle shared use system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a management server 100 is provided in a management center, and manages a user who uses the electric vehicle shared use system, an electric vehicle 400 used jointly, etc., and operates the electric vehicle shared use system. Is the central system. The management server 100 communicates with a user who uses the electric vehicle shared use system via a mobile phone 200 that can access the Internet such as i-mode. The management server 100 is also connected to a parking lot system (not shown) provided for each parking lot managing the charging post 300 for charging the electric vehicle 400 via a public line or a mobile phone network. is doing. In addition, the management server 100 can be connected to the electric vehicle 400 via a connection with a charging post or directly by a wireless line such as a mobile phone network. The electric vehicle shared use system of the present invention is intended to construct a system that allows a user to easily share an electric vehicle by using a mobile phone 200 possessed by a user.
[0004]
In the electric vehicle shared use system, a plurality of dedicated parking lots are installed in an area where the electric vehicle can be used. This parking lot is shown in FIG. The dedicated parking lot shown in FIG. 2A has a roof and charging posts 332 to 338. FIG. 2 (b) shows a parking meter type parking lot, and the charging post stands on the side of the road like a parking meter. As described above, the parking lot system that manages each charging post can communicate with the management server via a wired line such as a public line or wirelessly such as a mobile phone network, and also a charging cable etc. It is possible to communicate by wireless such as Bluetooth or mobile phone network.
In this way, there is always a charging post in each parking lot for electric vehicles. When a shared electric vehicle is parked (not in use), it is placed on the charging post in the parking lot. It is connected and charged via a charging cable.
Further, the charging post includes a lock mechanism that mechanically locks the connected charging cable. Locking and unlocking of the locking mechanism can be controlled electrically, and can be controlled by an instruction from a parking lot system or the like.
This charging cable locking mechanism has, for example, a shape that can engage the blade of the plug of the charging cable, and can be locked by mechanical engagement using the shape, or the charging cable can be opened by opening the case provided on the charging post. Lock the case so that it does not open when closed.
By providing a controllable lock mechanism that locks the charging cable, the electric vehicle is reliably charged while it is parked, and it is also a crime prevention against the parked electric vehicle.
[0005]
In this shared use system, each electric vehicle is given a unique vehicle ID, whereby the management server manages the electric vehicle.
In addition, a unique charge post ID is also assigned to the charge post, whereby the management server manages the state of each charge post.
For example, the management server uses these IDs to determine which electric vehicle is connected to which charging post and what is the charging state of the electric vehicle.
[0006]
In the embodiment described here, the electric vehicle used is a small and lightweight one. For example, when stopping on a road, it is not necessary to stop along the road, The vehicle can be parked in a direction perpendicular to it. By using such a small electric vehicle, a small and lightweight storage battery can be used, and a parking space can be reduced. For this reason, it becomes possible to set up parking lots for electric vehicles shared in various places, and convenience is improved.
In addition, when the electric vehicle is parked in the parking lot, it is configured to be connected to the charging post, so the loaded storage battery is often in a fully charged state, and the storage battery with a small capacity Even if it is used, it can be sufficiently utilized within the application area.
[0007]
<Use of mobile phone>
One of the features of this electric vehicle shared use system is that it uses a mobile phone.
(Member registration)
In order to use the electric vehicle of this system, the user of the shared use system must first register as a member using his own mobile phone. This member registration is performed by accessing a site (that is, a management server) of the shared use system using a mobile phone capable of accessing the Internet such as i-mode. When a member is registered, a password (password) is registered together with the user's telephone number in the management server. The management server uses a telephone number and a password for member authentication. Charging for the use of the electric vehicle is made to the telephone bill account for this telephone number, and payment is made with the telephone bill.
[0008]
(Use as a membership card)
The user's mobile phone registered as a member performs the same function as a member card in the shared use system. For this purpose, each charging post 300 is provided with a connection box 350 to which a mobile phone can be connected, as shown in FIG. The connection box 350 is connected to a parking lot system, and can read the local telephone number of the connected mobile phone.
Each electric vehicle 400 is provided with a connection box 410 to which a mobile phone can be connected. The connection box 410 is connected to a monitoring system that monitors the state of the electric vehicle provided in the electric vehicle, and can read the local telephone number of the connected mobile phone. Note that the mobile phone may be used in a hands-free state while being connected to the connection box 410.
The use of the mobile phone by these connection boxes will be described in detail later.
[0009]
<How to use electric vehicles>
4 and 5 will be used to explain in detail how a user who has registered as a member of this system uses an electric vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 4A, the management server determines which electric vehicle is connected to each charging post in each parking lot. For example, the management server-parking system-charging post-charging cable-electricity It is grasped by communicating through the route of the automobile monitoring system. The management server also grasps the state of each electric vehicle, for example, the state of charge, the state of failure, and the like through the same communication path.
[0010]
(Reservation)
After completing the membership registration, the user who wants to use the electric vehicle makes a reservation by accessing the management server using the mobile phone as shown in FIG. 4B. The system operation when making this reservation will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 6, the user accesses the reservation page on the management server provided in the management center using the i-mode of the mobile phone (S602, S604). The management server starts the reservation process (S606). First, the telephone number is used as a member ID to check whether the member is registered. If the member is registered, a password input screen is transmitted (S608). The user inputs a password on the received password input screen (S610) and transmits it (S612). The management server authenticates the user using the telephone number and password, and when it is confirmed that the user is a member (S614), a reservation screen is transmitted to the mobile phone (S616). The user inputs a desired departure place, arrival place (destination), scheduled departure time, estimated arrival time, etc. in the received reservation screen (S618), and transmits them to the management server (S620). Based on the sent information, the management server searches for an electric vehicle that can be used in a parking lot nearest to the departure place (S622). Then, the nearest parking lot or usable electric vehicle as a result of the search is transmitted to the mobile phone as a map to the parking lot or the vehicle number of the electric vehicle (S624). At this time, it is also possible to send a map of the nearest parking lot to the destination. The user confirms the sent map and vehicle number (S626), and if it is OK, sends the fact that it is used to the management server (S628). The user can read the map of the parking lot, the vehicle number, and the like sent at any time by storing them in the mobile phone. The management center determines that the electric vehicle scheduled to be used has been reserved, and ends the reservation process (S630). Further, as this reservation processing, one of the charging posts in the parking lot nearest to the arrival place can also be reserved.
In this manner, the user can make a reservation for an electric vehicle by using a mobile phone, and can also receive a map of a parking lot and the like.
[0011]
(Actual car pickup)
Using the map stored in the mobile phone, the user can use the electric vehicle by going to the parking lot for the electric vehicle nearest to the departure place. The place where the car arrived is shown in FIG. An example of a procedure for using a reserved electric vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 4D, 5E, and 5F.
The electric vehicle waiting in the parking lot has a door locked and is connected to the charging post by a charging cable.
FIG. 4D shows that the member is authenticated in order to enter the reserved electric vehicle. There are two procedures, one of which is to access the management server directly from the mobile phone as shown in FIG. Authenticate by entering your password or reserved vehicle number. Another procedure is to connect the mobile phone to a connection box 350 provided at each charging post, as shown in FIG. In the following, processing up to the use of a reserved electric vehicle will be described in detail with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. 7, taking as an example the procedure for connecting a mobile phone to the connection box 350.
[0012]
A user who has reserved an electric vehicle connects his mobile phone to a connection box provided on a charging post to which the electric vehicle having the notified vehicle number is connected (S702: see FIG. 3A). The parking lot system reads “own phone number” from the mobile phone connected to the connection box of the charging post, and transmits the read phone number of the mobile phone to the management server via a public line or the like (S704). In the management server, when the reservation is confirmed based on the sent telephone number (S706), an unlock signal for the charging cable and the door of the electric vehicle is transmitted to the charging post (S708).
After the lock for the connection between the charging post and the charging cable is released, when the user pulls out the charging cable (S710), the parking system removes the charging cable from the charging post, that is, the start of use to the management server. Notification is made (S712). The management server that has received the notification of the start of use starts charging the usage fee to the user (S714).
The user pulls out the mobile phone from the charging post and sets it in the connection box in the electric vehicle (see FIG. 5E). In the system in the electric vehicle, the telephone number of the reserved user is notified in advance from the management server. For this reason, in the monitoring system in the electric vehicle, the local telephone number of the connected mobile phone is read out and collated, so that the electric vehicle can be used (see FIG. 5F).
In this way, the user can receive and use the reserved electric vehicle.
[0013]
(Return of actual vehicle)
As shown in FIG. 5G, the user returns to the parking lot after using the electric vehicle. At this time, if the nearest parking lot of the arrival place is designated, the electric vehicle is parked at the designated charging post. The processing in the system at the time of return will be described in detail with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.
The user who has finished using the mobile phone takes it out of the connection box of the electric vehicle that was using the mobile phone and connects it to the connection box of the parked charging post (S802). The parking lot system reads the local phone number from the connected mobile phone and transmits it to the management server together with the use termination request (S804). The management server confirms the reservation (S806) and transmits a charging cable connection request (S808). From the charging post, for example, by voice, “Please connect the charging cable” is alerted to the user (S810). When the user connects the charging cable (S812), the charging is detected and a charging start signal is transmitted to the management server (S814). The management server that has received the charge start signal stops charging (S816) and transmits a lock signal (S818). When the parking system receives the lock signal, the connection with the charging cable and the door of the electric vehicle are locked (S820).
When the use is finished, the charging cable is connected, and the charging is finished, the management server can notify the user's mobile phone of the current usage fee of the electric vehicle by e-mail or the like (see FIG. 5 (h)). ).
As described above, charging is performed by assuming that the charging cable is disconnected and then connected, so that the charging cable is securely connected if the electric vehicle is parked.
[0014]
<Use without reservation>
This system can use an electric vehicle even when a user who sees that the electric vehicle is parked in a parking lot wants to use the vehicle on the spot. In this case, the user accesses the page for immediate use with the mobile phone, and notifies the management server of the vehicle number of the electric vehicle and the scheduled use time seen at that time. The management server notifies the user of permission to use the electric vehicle with the vehicle number that has been notified if it is not reserved and can be used. At this time, if the electric vehicle with the notified vehicle number cannot be used, an alternative electric vehicle may be introduced.
In order to make it possible for the user to know whether the device can be used even without such reservations, green indicating the availability or a red “indicator” indicating that the device cannot be used, etc. It may be possible to display that an electric vehicle or the like is reserved. By providing an “indicator light” or the like on the charging post, it is possible to display that the charging post is reserved for the arriving electric vehicle.
Subsequent procedures for picking up an actual vehicle are the same as those described with reference to FIG.
[0015]
<Other embodiments>
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the parking lot system that manages the charging posts is provided has been described. However, a configuration in which each charging post has a necessary function may be directly connected to the management server.
Also, when returning, the mobile phone is connected to the charging post and the management server is notified that the use has ended, but the mobile phone set from the electric vehicle is removed, and the electric vehicle By connecting the charging post with a charging cable, the management server may recognize that the use has ended, and charging may be ended at this point.
In the above-described embodiment, when a charging post is reserved, it is indicated by an indicator lamp or the like, but it may be locked so that an outlet for charging the charging post cannot be used. Moreover, you may make it obstruct parking other than the electric vehicle reserved in the charging space by standing a lock board at the entrance of the charging space (parking space) of the charging post.
At this time, it is detected that the electric vehicle that reserved this charging post has approached, and the lock plate is lowered or the outlet is unlocked.
The approach of the electric vehicle can be detected, for example, by performing communication from a mobile phone that the user has reserved, or by automatically communicating with the electric vehicle that has approached the charging post.
In the above-described embodiment, the charging cable is locked so as not to be detached from the charging post when the charging cable is in an unusable state or during charging, but this locking mechanism may not be provided.
In the above-described embodiment, the telephone number of the mobile phone is used as the user ID, but the user ID may be set separately. A mobile phone is used for user identification, but a magnetic card or the like in which a user ID is set may be used.
A device capable of identifying the position may be mounted on the electric vehicle, and the management server may always be able to grasp the position of the electric vehicle by allowing direct communication with the management server via a mobile phone network or the like. By adopting such a configuration, it becomes possible to know the position of the electric vehicle abandoned at a place other than the parking lot.
Since the management server keeps track of the arrangement of the electric vehicle, when the arrangement of the electric vehicle becomes unbalanced with respect to demand, the management server should be instructed to relocate the electric vehicle. Also good.
[0016]
【The invention's effect】
In the present invention, as described above, by using a mobile phone, a shared use system that can easily use an electric vehicle can be constructed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of a shared use system for electric vehicles.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a parking lot for an electric vehicle.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a usage form of a mobile phone.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining how the users share the information.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining how the users share the use.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a reservation system operation;
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a system operation at the start of use of an electric vehicle.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a system operation at the end of use of an electric vehicle.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 Management Server 200 Mobile Phone 300 Charging Post 310, 320 Charging Post 332, 334, 336, 338 Charging Post 342, 344, 346, 348 Charging Post 350 Connection Box 400 Electric Vehicle 410 Connection Box

Claims (9)

In an electric vehicle shared use system that uses multiple electric vehicles together,
For the electric vehicle, a plurality of charging posts for charging during parking,
A management server for managing the charging post and the electric vehicle;
The management server
Detecting the connection relationship for charging between the electric vehicle and the charging post;
The electric vehicle shared use system, wherein the start and end of use of the electric vehicle are detected by detecting the end and start of the connection relationship. In the electric vehicle joint use system according to claim 1 ,
The charging post has a lock mechanism for maintaining the connection relationship,
The electric vehicle shared use system, wherein the lock mechanism is to start and release the lock according to an instruction from the management server. In the electric vehicle joint use system according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The charging post has an indicator lamp for displaying a usable state,
An electric vehicle shared use system, which is displayed according to an instruction from the management server. In the electric vehicle joint use system according to claims 1 to 3 ,
The management server further includes:
Collecting data on the status and position of the electric vehicle connected to the charging post;
Authenticate membership by accessing from the user's mobile phone,
Once authenticated as a member, it accepts a reservation for the electric vehicle from the user,
Whether the reservation is established is searched from the collected electric vehicle data,
The result is transmitted to the mobile phone. An electric vehicle shared use system. In the electric vehicle joint use system according to claims 1 to 4 ,
The electric vehicle shared use system characterized in that the result transmitted when the management server makes a reservation for the mobile phone includes a map indicating a position where an electric vehicle that can be used by the user is parked. . In the electric vehicle joint use system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , the result transmitted by the management server when a reservation is made for the mobile phone includes the position of the reserved charging post closest to the user's destination. An electric vehicle shared use system characterized by including a map showing. The electric vehicle joint use system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the management server uses a telephone number of a mobile phone used when authenticating the member. A feature of the electric vehicle shared use system. The electric vehicle shared use system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the management server includes:
Monitor the usage time of the electric vehicle used by the user, calculate the usage fee,
An electric vehicle shared use system characterized in that the calculated usage charge is added to a charge account of a mobile phone used by a user. The electric vehicle shared use system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 , wherein the management server includes:
When an electric vehicle to be used by a user is determined, the electric vehicle shared use system is configured to notify a telephone number of the user's mobile phone to the electric vehicle to be used by the user.

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